SOAP DISH –PART2 Dear friends,
This is 2nd part ofSoap. I was thinking whether it is to be posted or not. Yesterday seeing repeatedadvertisements of soaps, I thought it would not be out of place to post 2ndpart also Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 20-12-2011 Reposted after fully editing and updating information on17-7-21.R. Gopala Krishnan 1. Soap dish and towel- identification. On those days of river and pondbath, the persons going for bath were identified along with towel in shoulder or in arm and soap box. Someused to take tooth brush and tongue cleaner also. Normally soap dishes were kept onthe granite steps called “Padavu” one foot above water level. Soap was appliedstanding in water or in the step after self dipping in water. It was ensuredthe soap is kept back in the soap box after application. Normally people will first apply soap in legsand waist area, and have a dip. Then on the upper portions of the body and adip and finally on head and a face and a clean dip. The soaps used to have aninstruction to wait for at least two minutes after application and beforewashing off to remove dirt. People used to wear white colour towel in additionto undergarment. Now ponds are not cleaned andsteps to get in river are damaged and not repaired. Update- At least for three decades people haschanged to bath in bathrooms. Very few who have to bath in river/pond for theirjob in temples etc take bath in them. 2. Types of soap dish. The soap dish used to be eitherin plastic or metal. The glittering soap box in stainless steel was very commonin 1970’s. In early times, the plastic soap boxes used to break on fallingbeing pure plastic, but after adding PVC this feature of breaking is not there. The cover of soap dishes cameeither fitted or not fitted. Some preferred fitted so that it would not belost. Some after opening soap box usedto keep the cover under the bottom part. The outer cover perfectly fitted inthis to the bottom part. 3. Size of soap box. Normally people used to purchasesoap box slightly bigger than soap size. This facilitated easy handling. Somepeople preferred to keep washing soap also in soap box. Hence the soap disheswere bigger to accommodate them. It was also usual to keep inchain the soap box, to scrub the body after applying soap. Soaps like sunlight,Life buoys etc were of bigger in size, and normally it was cut in to two beforeuse. Some shops used to cut to half and sell. Similarly washing soap used to come as bar.About 1” there used to be marks, through which it was cut and sold. Shopsmostly sold bar soap by cutting since most did not want the full bar. Update- Whether in bathroom/river to keep soap, soap dishis required. 4. Exchanging soap box. On those days there used to beonly two or three soap dishes, and the family members used to exchange. Somostly the second group collect the soap box on the return path of the first,or the first group will wait in bathing Ghat for giving the soap box to theothers. No hygiene problem was felt or thought on those days among familymembers. Update-Now exchange of soap cannot beimagined. Recently our lady servant changed. The new servant lady wanted newglass for drinking water, coffee, new Tiffin plate for Tiffin and a new soapdish and soap for washing hands 5. Missing soap dish It was quite common to forget the soap box onreturn by some. After recollecting and going back, few times the soap dish usedto be there if it was old and a small piece of soap inside. Missing were mostlybrand new costly soap dish and new toilet soap. People used to worry – new soap andnew dish was lost. On those days the cost of soap and soap dish was much topeople. My update- Now no worry of soapdish missing since bathing is in own bath room. What an advantage. 5a. Missing soap box at Tirupathi. It was told, if we miss anythingat Tirupathi temple it was for the good. I visited Tirupathi when my son wasone year old and had tonsure. What to say- After return it is found stain less soap box was leftthere after bathing my son. There was all round improvement also. Anew one was purchased, of course in plastic. 6. Soap container modification. The first modification was tohave small legs to the bottom container for about 3 mm height, then perforationfor draining water from soap to drain. When soap is placed water used to drainthrough these openings. Ceramic soap boxes appeared as bath roomfixtures, but did not get popularity. 7. Sponge in soap box When sponge became common, it wasa practice to cut to the size of soap box and place in the bottom container.However it gained nopopularity. 8. Designs in thebath room Later provisions were made asshelves in the wall level and corner fixtures to accommodate bath room accessories.It had provision to keep two soaps, some scrubber, washing soap/soap powder/liquidsoap, and bathroom cleaning liquids. For attached/ladies bathroom inaddition, a shelf was provided to keep more decorating items. Many bathroomscame with provision for dress changing also. 9. Soap box cleaning Because of the sticking of soapin the boxes, periodical cleaning is a must of the soap box to give new look.Putting in hot water and using cloth to scrub the bits, the soap box used toappear new. Sometimes simply using scrubber itself 10. Liquid soaps Liquid soap comes in containerand did not require soap box. But in general it could least affect the popularattractive soap dish. For washing nowadays liquid soapsare more preferred in washing machines 11. Soap company soap boxes. Some manufactures of soaps likePears, Chandrika used to give soap box to the oval size of soap. These soap dishesare quality ones and indirectly charged along with soap PRICE. 12. Attraction of soap box. While appearing in attractivecolours and designs, most like to replace soap dishes once a year now or evenearlier. 13. Today scenario Today wash basins, and all bathrooms have bathing soaps, one soap dish per individual. Mostly people haveseparate bath rooms. Even kids have separate soap box and often replaced forkid’s enjoyment. When more bath rooms and fewpeople, the same person has separate soaps and soap dishes in different bathrooms. The soaps are used mostly to ¾sizes and when it is found slightly difficult to hold and slipping, simply putto waste box. Wash basins are provided withbrand new soaps, while guests arrive. Their use is less, but thrown outperiodically. 14. Closing soap box. To avoid bacterial infection andnot to lose the fragrance, most keep the soap box closed. It is opened onlywhen, a person enters for bath. The provision of washing soap haslost its position with front load soap powder and top load soap powder andfully automatic washing machines. But still they are applied to remove tough dirt. 15. Kitchen provision In the work area, now we can seein soap dish fitting the most costly soap, with fragrance – Yes, it isperiodically replaced when becoming ½ sizes!! It is for the use of house maid,after cleaning frying pans to wash her hands. Of course a neat bath towel tooto clean her hands. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to thatha_patty+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/898895175.59716.1626507687309%40mail.yahoo.com.
